Profiles Mimic 'Looks' of Films and Filters to Meet Artistic Needs, Simplify Workflow

ROCHESTER, N.Y., November 1 - New Kodak Professional DCS Custom Looks Profiles allow photographers shooting with Kodak Professional DCS Pro Back digital camera backs to customize the tonal values of their images in the camera - locking in their creative vision and simplifying down-the-line workflow.

"In silver halide photography, photographers choose certain film products to obtain a particular tone, whether in color or black and white. This tonal effect is then carried throughout the workflow and is reflected in the final print or image separation," said Gerard Magee, Product Development Manager, Digital Camera Backs, Kodak Professional. "Digital photographers involved with color-managed workflows are looking for the same predictable color consistency and value that film based color systems offer. And that's exactly what they'll find with Kodak Professional DCS Custom Looks Profiles."

Using these new profiles, photographers can offer their clients more color tonal options, particularly when they are trying to match merchandise or flesh tones. By setting an option during the capture stage, the photographer can avoid having to apply different color effects later to meet the expectations of the client. With the selection of profiles included in the package, the photographer can offer more services for a shorter color-managed workflow and differentiate his or her services from other photographers.

Kodak Professional DCS Custom Looks Profiles feature 10 distinct tonal options: Kodak DCS Product Hi Color Hold, Kodak DCS Portrait Hi Color Hold, Kodak DCS Product Hi Color, Kodak DCS Portrait Hi Color, Kodak DCS High Contrast, Kodak DCS B&W Wratten #8, Kodak DCS B&W Wratten #25, Kodak DCS B&W Normal, Kodak DCS Sepia 1 and Kodak DCS Sepia 2. If these profiles do not meet the needs of a particular subject or client, the photographer can even adjust them.

Kodak DCS Product Hi Color Hold

Especially useful for commercial images that involve both people and other colored objects such as clothing, this look profile has the standard "product" tone scale. Bright colors, except for skin-related colors, are more highly saturated. Skin colors are "held" in place and other colors are boosted. Lightly saturated colors are not affected, and colors that were highly saturated are not affected as much as medium saturated colors.

Kodak DCS Portrait Hi Color Hold

This look profile includes the standard "portrait" tone scale. However, bright colors are more highly saturated except for skin related colors. Skin colors are "held" in place and other colors are boosted. This look is useful for portrait images that not only involve the people, but also have other bright colors of interest. After this look is applied, skin tone would be unaffected, but other colors would become more saturated.

Kodak DCS Product Hi Color

Generally useful for commercial images, this look profile has the standard "product" tone scale. Bright colors are more highly saturated, while skin colors are not "held" in place and are affected. Lightly saturated colors are not affected, and colors that were highly saturated to begin with are not affected as much as medium saturated colors. After this look is applied, all bright colors would become more saturated.

Kodak DCS Portrait Hi Color

Useful for portrait images where the skin tones of the people and other scene objects need more color saturation, this look profile has the standard "portrait" tone scale. Bright colors are more highly saturated. Skin colors are not "held" in place. Lightly saturated colors are not affected, and colors that were highly saturated to begin with are not affected as much as medium saturated colors.

Kodak DCS Hi Contrast

This look profile has a higher contrast tone scale compared to the standard "product" look. This look is useful in general for images that need more contrast with control of saturated colors.

Kodak DCS B&W Normal

This look profile provides a standard black-and-white rendition of the original color image. However, the gray scale has been modeled using the Helmholtz-Kohlrausch effect, so perceived brightness increases with increased color saturation. This provides a decidely different look than merely adjusting the color saturation to render a black-and-white image.

Kodak DCS B&W Wratten #8

This look mimics the effect of using black-and-white film with a Wratten #8 (yellow) filter over the camera lens. A Wratten #8 filter is useful for darkening blue skies in landscape images and lightening skin tones in portraits.

Kodak DCS B&W Wratten #25

This look mimics the effect of using black-and-white film with a Wratten #25 (red) filter over the lens. A Wratten #25 filter is useful for dramatically darkening blue skies in landscape images and other special effects.

Kodak DCS Sepia 1 and Kodak DCS Sepia 2

These look profiles provide classic sepia tones to an image, equivalent to a black-and-white print which was sepia- toned. Sepia 1 is "warmer" in tone than Sepia 2.

Kodak Professional DCS Custom Looks Profiles are Kodak's latest entrant in the $225 billion infoimaging industry, driven by the convergence of images and information technology. Infoimaging unites three closely related imaging markets - devices/software, infrastructure and services/media - that enable people to more easily use images as a fast, effective means to share them as information, entertainment or memories.

Kodak Professional DCS Custom Looks Profiles are available immediately from authorized dealers of Kodak Professional digital imaging products. The suggested U.S. list price for the set is $249.

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